And Now For Something Completely Different: Traffic

I decided to mix things up a bit around here.  Instead of my normal news post, I will be writing a story.  I hope you enjoy.

We started this whole operation almost five years ago.  We set up a front: a small exotic pet store which specialized in corals and tropical fish.  The store was fully operational.  Customers walked in and out without a clue of the ulterior motives we had.  I ordered fish that were nearly impossible to obtain in the United States.  Then, after what seemed to be an eternity of waiting, we launched our trap.

I sent a letter to one Anson Wong.  We had first heard his name when we interviewed animal traffickers.  Initially, we thought that he was simply a big player in the game.  Eventually, however, we learned that he wasn’t just a big player.  He was the player: the man who organized almost all foreign animal trafficking in South eastern Asia.

—–

Animal trafficking may not seem like a particularly big deal, but believe me, this is no simple import/export business.  International treaties like CITIES are in place to prevent the trafficking of endangered animals, but they don’t have any teeth.  First off, many countries do not abide by the rules because they did not sign it.  Also, it allows people to trade the animals if they were bred in captivity.  The problem here is that many people simply claim that their animal was “bred in captivity,” even though it was caught in the wild.  Once captured, the market is fairly specific for each animal.  Bears have their gall bladders removed for traditional medicines.  Tigers and big cats are killed for their pelts.  Monkeys are captured as pets.  Reptiles killed for skins and sometimes sold as pets.   The way these creatures are collected is also cruel.  Most traders will kill animals just for the parts with monetary value.  If an animal must be kept alive, they will commonly kill babies’ mothers and fathers and simply take the baby out of the wild.

I worked undercover in Wong’s organization for some time.  He, like most organized crime leaders, and make no mistake, it is highly organized, Wong bordered on megalomania.  I was supposed to be his biographer.  Wong showed me his captive breeding zoos.  They were little more than cages placed in his large estate.  There was no great difficulty in seeing through the mirage.  These animals were not bred in captivity.  There is a certain look in a wild animal’s eye when it is imprisoned.  It seems to ask, “Why?”  In one of our last meetings, Wong told me that he had to leave the country for a time to take care of some business.  I asked him where he was going.

“India,” he retorted.  ”An associate tells me that I can have some tigers.”

“Tigers,” I thought to myself, “There are only about 4,000 left in the wild.  And I could guess what the tiger’s fate was going to be.  Tigers cost $6,000 annually to keep, but a bullet costs only a few cents.  The math is easy.

Before he left in his plane, he grabbed my shoulder.

“I have shown you much of my world.  Some people would like it dearly to see me behind bars for my….work.  Just remember, bad things happen to people who betray me.”

A chill went up my spine.  Wong was not one to make empty threats.  However, immediately on his departure, I went to the chief Wildlife Department official.  I told her that I had information regarding Anson Wong.  She laughed.  I asked for an explanation of her giggle.

“He is my friend,”  she simply replied.

I studied her face.  She did not blink.  Her smile displayed two rows of slightly angled white teeth.

“Nevermind,” I quickly said and turned and left.  Wong has his hand in every government agency I later learned.  His influence was far-reaching and solid as a rock.  If anything was going to be done, it would have to be in the United States.  Unfortunately, that meant for us to get charges to stick, we would need to catch him in the act.  But there was a hitch.  Wong never traveled with his animals.  It was always done through middle men.  We needed a good plan for this to work.

—–

My letter told Wong that I was a rare fish dealer and wanted to get some corals to add to my inventory.  This seemed like a low enough rung from which to start off.  We did not want to make a splash.  One toe at a time.  We also asked for a list of what he had to offer.  A month letter, we had a letter back.  It included a list of corals, including a few endangered ones.  We were on our way.  We ordered the endangered ones and asked to see what he had in way of fish and small reptiles.  He gladly complied with a similar list.  After another two years of correspondence, gaining Wong’s trust, we asked for a favor.

We had a “friend who was interested in Komodo Dragons.”  She “wanted” to meet Wong to set up a deal.  No good, he replied, he does not do business deals face to face, much less in North America.  But, she insisted.  Komodo dragons do not have a huge market as they are so conspicuous, so Wong did not want to lose this one.  After haggling on a location, we settled on Mexico, a country not known for its strict animal law enforcement.

It was a warm morning.  I waited outside of the airport tunnel entrance with a group of Mexican soldiers behind me.  Wong walked around the tunnel.  He had a Hawaiian shirt on, as though expecting to have some fun in the sun.  I greeted him with a smile and handcuffs.

“Hello old friend.”  I chided.

Wong’s face fell momentarily.  He knew the game was up.  But then, surprisingly, he smiled at me.

“Well done.  You really had me going there.  But no worries.  Just let my wife know that I will be gone for a while and that she should take over the store during my absence…”

For nearly two years Anson fought extradition to the U.S., but eventually he signed plea agreements, admitting to crimes carrying a maximum penalty of 250 years in prison and a $12.5-million fine. On June 7, 2001, U.S. District Judge Martin J. Jenkins sentenced him to 71 months in U.S. federal prison (with credit for 34 months served), fined him $60,000, and banned him from selling animals to anyone in the U.S. for three years after his prison release.  His main company, Sungai Rusa Wildlife, continued to ship despite the ban. Now that he’s free, Anson has launched a new wildlife venture, a zoo that promises to be his most audacious enterprise yet.

This story is, for the most part, sadly true.  To get the full story, check out http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/01/asian-wildlife/christy-text/1

[Via http://scienceguy288.wordpress.com]

Soliciting Home Remedies!

Somewhat ironically, I have begun experiencing the symptoms of a cold on the horizon. For the record, it’s ironic because I was just having a conversation with a group of kids here about how I never get sick (clearly jinxing myself). While so many people have come down with cold after flu this year (credit to the change in location, perhaps), I have managed to stay relatively healthy — not a flu bug or a cough in sight. For the last two days, however, I have felt the ominous tingle in my throat and have been experiencing that sinus pressure that makes you want to empty your head out. You know the one?

So, I guess I effectively jinxed myself. I am getting sick, as much as I hate to admit it. I woke up this morning with a sore throat, stuffed nose and an achy body. On top of that, I slept until 1130! That’s seriously unheard of, so I’m going to accredit it to the fact that my body is trying to recuperate. I’m all about home remedies right now. I’m not really familiar with the NHS here and I don’t very much want to see a doctor that I don’t know (Dr. Kazadi, if you’re reading this, I miss you!) In lieu of doctors visits, I’m going to try some at-home healing: loads of H20, perhaps some Emergen-C packets and some tomato soup!

Here’s the problem: being that I don’t get sick very often (I’m probably jinxing myself again…), I’m not really familiar with all of the tried-and-true home remedies. Herbs? Teas? Homemade concoctions? Whiskey?

Anyone have a secret for banishing sore throat and sniffles?
Please leave me a comment & share your remedies!

Lots of love from your sickly traveler,

[Via http://travelerdiary.wordpress.com]

GET TAMIFLU FROM CERTIFIEDONLINEPHARMACY.NET

The sudden outbreak of swine flu, a virus that is endemic in pigs, around the world has scared the entire population of the world.  The spreading of this virus had been all over the news during the year. What is sad is that some of those who were infected had died. Because of this, all persons have been taking precautions and among the precautions is the taking in of certain medications for prevention and also for flu treatment. The most frequently prescribed anti-viral flu medicine is Tamiflu.

Tamiflu, whose generic name is Oseltamivir, is an antiviral drug that slows the spread of influenza or flu virus between cells in the body by stopping the virus from chemically cutting ties with its host cell. In other words, it is one that treats disorders caused by viruses.

Once you or a member of your family starts to experience flu symptoms such as fever, chills, aches, or tiredness, you can already take action within 48 hours. In order to treat flu, just take Tamiflu within two days of experiencing symptoms. This is because this medication works by helping to stop the flu virus from spreading inside the body. On the other hand, if your purpose is flu prevention, just take Tamiflu when you have been exposed to someone with the flu. This medication, in this case, works, by helping to keep the virus from making you sick. It should be noted, however, that Tamiflu is not intended to substitute the need of fly shot because vaccination is still the first line of defense for flu protection.

Before taking in Tamiflu, it is important for you to inform your doctor certain facts. First, your doctor should be informed if you have any allergy to any drug’s components. Second, consult your doctor first before starting Tamiflu treatment if you are carrying a baby or is planning to get pregnant soon. Birth defects have resulted when Tamiflu was tried on pregnant animals. Although this medication has not yet been tested on humans, it is still not advisable to just take the medication without talking to your doctor because Tamiflu can pass into breast milk. And third, your doctor should likewise be informed beforehand if you are suffering from any of the following disorders:

-          Heart problems

-          Kidney ailments

-          Liver diseases

-          Viral infections besides Influenza A or B

-          Lung problems

-          Other important medical problems

Tamiflu also result to several side effects like cough, phlegm production, wheezing, nausea, vomiting, stomach upsets, diarrhea, stomach cramps, eye itching, nosebleed which most commonly occurs in children, eye redness, eye swelling and sometimes an excessive tear production, headache, skin flushing, fatigue, dizziness, and insomnia. There may be other side effects that this medication may cause. If in case such side effects become too bothersome or intolerable, it is advised that the patient stop taking Tamiflu and ask his doctor of any advice regarding the issues. For instance, if you develop a some kind of allergic reaction or a severe rash, stop taking this med and contact your healthcare professional immediately because it may be very serious. Those persons suffering from flu, most especially children and adults, may be at an increased risk of self injury and confusion shortly after taking Tamiflu, thus, they must be closely monitored for signs of unusual behaviour. If in case any signs of unusual behaviour appears, then a healthcare profession should be immediately contacted.

In addition, your doctor should likewise be informed if you are taking drugs other than Tamiflu whether they are prescription or non-prescription medicines. This is because Tamiflu usually reacts with other drugs containing Probenecid among other ingredients. The combination of these two usually causes higher blood levels.

According to flu treatment studies, adults who take Tamiflu within 48 hours of the first appearance of symptoms feel better 30% faster than those who did not take this medication. As for children, they feel better up to 26% faster than those flu patients who did not take Tamiflu. Thus, it can be said that this medication is indeed effective to both adults and children.

CertifiedOnlinePharmacy.net is the best place to obtain this medication. Why? First, because it has a free online prescription service from a US licensed doctor. Second, it offers a free discreet overnight shipping through FedEx. Third, all certified online pharmacy orders are shipped through a US licensed pharmacy. Fourth, you simply need to find the medication you need from more than a hundred medications and then complete a simple medical questionnaire in order to purchase from Certified Online Pharmacy. Just remember to accurately fill out the said questionnaire by explain your exact problem to ensure approval. Fifth, all medication including Tamiflu offered is FDA approved. Last but not the least, 24/7 Toll free support and Live Chat is made available by Certified Online Pharmacy.

I guarantee that you’ll find Certified Online Pharmacy to be everything and more that you would expect from a respectable trustworthy online pharmacy service to purchase Tamiflu and all other kinds of medications.

[Via http://cheapprescriptiononline.wordpress.com]

Disadvantages Of Herbal Medicine

Disadvantages Of Herbal Medicine

Medicines made from various natural herbs have been popular from time immemorial with the native folks of many countries as an alternative form of treatment. Herbal or traditional medicines are made from various plants and plant extracts. Sometimes, fungal and bee products, minerals, shells and specific animal parts are also used in the preparation of herbal medicines. Many substances found in plants are useful in treating human ailments. Among them are aromatic substances, phenols and their oxygen-substituted derivatives like tannins. Secondary metabolites like alkaloids serve as defense mechanism against microorganisms and insects. Many herbs used by us while cooking have useful medicinal compounds.

Many people prefer herbal medications rather than the regular ones while treating various physical problems. From treating acne and prostate to treating insomnia and depression, the benefits of herbal medications have been immense. In many cases, medical science had backed the use of herbal medicine to treat specific conditions. However, like any other forms of treatment, herbal medicine also has quite a few disadvantages. Often, the trouble caused by some herbal medicine can boil down to the specific herb in question. In fact, many herbal remedies have proved themselves from time to time.

Any form of herbal medicine takes some time to act. One has to have immense patience while undergoing herbal treatment. Various ingredients go into the preparation of herbal medicine. One has to be sure that none of the ingredients would cause allergic reactions. Many herbal remedies have negative side effects. Most of these side effects take months to appear. Since governments do not regulate the industry of herbal medicine, there is no chance of any quality control during the manufacturing of the herbal supplements. It is absolutely necessary to find a renowned practitioner of herbal medicine.

Regular medicines are still the best bet during serious or sudden illness or injury. Herbal medicine cannot treat serious injuries like a broken leg. Nor can it heal appendicitis or heart attacks effectively as no diagnostic tests or surgery is involved in it. Often self-dosing of various herbs leads to serious risks among users. Though one can argue that such a thing can occur with regular medicines as well, it should be remembered that those packages have specific instructions regarding dosage. This is entirely absent with herbal medications. Herbs harvested in the wild are risky. Incorrect identification of the required herb can even lead to poisoning.

Herbal medications often interact with regular medicines. The herbs that are used to treat anxiety like Valerian and St. John’s Wort can interact with antidepressants. It is best to consult one’s doctor before going for any alternative treatment while on regular medicines. Sometimes, people start using herbal medications without checking what exactly is leading to the physical symptom they are suffering from. Regular medications may have been useful in such cases of wrong diagnosis.

The disadvantages of herbal medications depend on the user as well. People need to know what they are taking, what purpose would it serve and what would be the side effects of such a medication. It is essential to remember that though herbs are often effective they are not a panacea for all kinds of diseases.

[Via http://wehealthy.wordpress.com]

Tobacco Use Worldwide

Currently, approximately one third of the global population over the age of 15 – about 1.1 billion people – smoke cigarettes. Tobacco use continues to be the leading preventable cause of death worldwide, killing at least five million people each year. Trends from illness and death related to tobacco use indicate that by 2030, tobacco use will contribute to the deaths of more than 10 million people worldwide each year, 70 percent of whom live in the developing world. Though various strategies are in place, including bans on smoking in public areas, restrictions on advertisements for tobacco products, and increased taxes on cigarettes, the number of people who use tobacco has not significantly decreased. A recently released report from the World Health Organization (WHO) details cigarette and smokeless tobacco consumption and seeks to find an approach that may lessen the use of these products.

The WHO report indicates that though 22 of the world’s most populous 100 cities are now “smoke-free,” this only accounts for 5.4 percent of the world’s population. In 2008, the WHO established a set of guidelines aimed at helping nations to reduce smoking, which include:

1. Monitoring tobacco use and the policies to prevent it,
2. Protecting people from tobacco smoke,
3. Offering people help to quit using tobacco,
4. Warning people about the dangers of tobacco,
5. Enforcing bans on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship, and
6. Raising taxes on tobacco.

However, reports indicate that less than 10 percent of the world’s population is covered by any one of these measures. Additionally, only two percent of individuals live in nations that have comprehensive and widely-accepted smoke-free laws, and 94 percent are not protected by any laws against smoking.

Laws banning smoking – including the use of cigarettes, cigars, and hookahs – in public places will come into force in 2010 in many areas of the world. According the Syrian Society for Countering Cancer, 60 percent of adult men and 23 percent of women in Syria smoke, and 98 percent of Syrians are affected by second-hand smoke exposure. Other nations face similarly high rates of tobacco use and smoking-related illness and death. The high incidence of tobacco-related deaths in the Philippines (90,000 per year), Malaysia (10,000 per year), and Vietnam (40,000 per year) has caused concern in these regions, but fully effective smoking bans are not yet in place. Reports indicate that the majority of smokers in some Southeast Asian countries are men, and that as many as 75 percent of men smoke, compared to fewer than 20 percent of women who do. In Cambodia, for example, roughly half of the older women do use tobacco, but favor smokeless chewing tobacco, which many women begin during pregnancy to help lessen prenatal nausea.

Over the past four years, smoking rates have decreased in developed nations including the United States, Japan, and Western Europe as anti-smoking laws gain momentum. However, the World Lung Foundation (WLF) indicates that “More than 80 percent of those with premature deaths [from smoking] would occur in low- and middle-income countries.” Since 1960, according to the WLF, “the global production of tobacco has increased 300 percent in low- and middle-resource countries while dropping more than 50 percent in high-resource countries.” In China and India, over half a billion men consume tobacco, and other nations are facing similar problems of mass consumption of tobacco use. Tobacco is a contributing cause to heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, cancers and asthma worldwide, regardless of how it is consumed (smoked, chewed, etc.). According to Ala Alwan, the WHO non-communicable diseases expert, more than 80 percent of the WHO’s projected cancer deaths are likely to occur in the poorest regions of Africa. To increase awareness and provide education about the dangers of smoking, the WHO is planning to establish a regional hub there in 2010.

It remains to be seen how much impact the efforts of the WHO and other organizations will have with regard to decreasing the number of individuals who use tobacco. Through newly established laws, increased taxation, and outreach and education about the dangers of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products, it may be possible to urge individuals to quit smoking or not to start at all.

Discuss This and Other Public Health Concerns in the iCons in Medicine Forums

[Via http://iconsinmedicine.wordpress.com]

Australian study: children, infants need one H1N1 vaccine dose

As the supply of H1N1 vaccine for the adult population increases, recent evidence suggests that a new vaccine formulation from an Australian manufacturer may require only one dose for effectiveness in infants and children.  CSL, Ltd, of Australia, announced that their 15 mcg antigen formulation (twice the antigen amount in use in the United States at present) resulted in effective antibody levels (immunity) in over 90% of infants and children immunized.  Many officials remain concerned about new waves of H1N1 as the winter progresses in the northern hemisphere and then begins later in 2010 in the southern hemisphere.  Next  year’s routine seasonal flu shots are already scheduled to contain variants of this  years H1N1 strain, barring any major mutations in the virus.  These modifications are already scheduled to be incorporated into seasonal flu vaccines which will be administered south of the equator beginning in March, April and May.  Here in the U.S., concerns about vaccine safety have kept many parents on the sidelines.  To be sure, there are always concerns with vaccines, but to date, the H1N1 vaccines appear to have no greater side effect profiles than the seasonal flu vaccines.  Health officials are still urging general vaccination of children.  Parents of children with special health needs and concerns have been strongly advised to have the receive the vaccine.  Parents should discuss this decision with their pediatrician if there are concerns . . . ben kazie md

Australian vaccine maker CSL Ltd (CSL.AX) said on Monday its pandemic H1N1 swine flu vaccine delivered a strong immune response after just one dose in children as young as 6 months. Global health authorities recommend children get two swine flu shots for full protection, but the CSL vaccine showed strong response with just one shot. Australian researchers find that more than 90% of those in study had effective immunity after a single dose, but the 15-microgram dose of antigen is twice that used in the United States.

Study shows one dose of H1N1 vaccine may be enough for children – http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-sci-swine-flu-vaccine22-2009dec22,0,7581593.story

Will One Dose of H1N1 Vaccine Be Enough for Kids? – http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1949187,00.html

UPDATE 1-CSL says its H1N1 vaccine effective with 1 dose – http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2125173820091221

One Dose of H1N1 Vaccine Enough for Young – http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/21/health/main6005618.shtml?tag=cbsnewsLeadStoriesAreaMain;cbsnewsLeadStoriesHeadlines

Immunogenicity of a Monovalent 2009 Influenza A(H1N1) Vaccine in Infants and Children:… Nolan et al. JAMA.2009; 0: 20091911-10.

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[Via http://benkazie.wordpress.com]

Mesothelioma Fighting cancer with alternative medicine

Research in alternative medicine and conventional therapies to treat cancer, mesothelioma continues to be on top of trying to find a cure for this disease. Until an alternative is found, and shows promise to remove with traditional medicines and therapies, such as Alimta and other chemotherapy drugs, surgery, cancer, and radiotherapy will be used to slow the cancer.

In addition to conventional treatments may be a series of alternative medicine therapiesThe symptoms of mesothelioma can be reduced. Called complementary and alternative medicine, or CAM, this heterogeneous group of medical practices and health services and are not considered a part of general practice. However, this does not mean they are ineffective. Some providers of health care practice to combine both CAM and conventional medicine, and the two with good results. This is known as integrative medicine. As Thirty-six per cent of American adultsPopulation with some form of CAM. This increases by more than sixty percent when prayer and mega vitamin therapy included in the definition of alternative and complementary. Rates using an alternative therapy is higher in patients with serious diseases like cancer, mesothelioma.

Some treatments offered by alternative medicine, including acupuncture, pain after surgery to remove tumors, ginger, treatment of nausea and vomiting to relieve the causes that chemotherapyMassage the pain of all types of cancer treatment, and to extract of mistletoe in combination with chemotherapy to treat cancer. Immunotherapy, also called biological therapy, is becoming more common. In this therapy as biologic response modifiers are substances used to detect the immune system's ability to improve and destroy cancer cells, and to combat other diseases.

Photodynamic therapy uses a drug, the tissue sensitive to light, destroys tumor cells by exposureThey stopped in a laser at a specific frequency. Gene therapy is a new field, but that support the potentially fatal disease by altering a single gene therapy treatment. Herbal medicines, traditional practices of countries like China and Japan, and spiritual treatments are also used in CAM. Not all of these therapies have the ability to be directly related to mesothelioma and its effects are more likely to vary from patient. You can, however, a great help in managing symptoms andThe side effects of using conventional treatments.

If you are using complementary or alternative medicine in cancer treatment should ask their doctors. It is important to get answers to some questions when considering any treatment, whether alternative or conventional. Information such as the expected benefits of therapy in comparison to the risks, possible side effects, and, in the case of alternative or complementary treatments, if treatmentTreatment is with you are already interfering with the useful. If the treatment is part of a clinical study to find out who is the sponsor. Many alternative therapies are not fully covered by health insurance. Some are not covered. It 'important to know before beginning any CAM therapy, whether or not to pay the insurance. A good place to start finding information on the options is the NCCAM Web site at http://nccam.nih.gov. From there you will be able to informto decide what treatments, both conventional and alternative, it is right for you.

[Via http://mesotheliomaasbestosclaim.wordpress.com]

H1N1 Vaccine recalled.

The French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis recalled 800,000 doses of the H1N1 vaccine because it was not “strong enough.” Media pundits assure everyone that their children are “not in danger” since they require a second vaccine anyway—even though we were told two vaccinations were not required.

Parents should be assured that the vaccine has the appropriate level of Mercury, I suppose.

[Via http://donthategcdaz.wordpress.com]

Healthcare in HMI

The Health Medicine Institute (HMI) is a comprehensive center for health and healing. Medical director, Len Saputo, MD, and executive director, Kay Sandberg, MA, guide the integration of the best strategies from mainstream, complementary, and alternative medicine in all HMI healthcare. This highly collaborative approach is based on the four principles of Health Medicine—preventive, person-centered, integrative, and holistic care. Our 14 practitioners offer “high-tech” modern medicine in tandem with the “high touch” of complementary therapies.

While they treat most healthcare conditions, they offer six specialized programs:

• pain management
• the treatment of complex chronic conditions
• women’s health services
• thermal imaging for breast cancer risk assessment
• integrative sports medicine
• wellness programs

At the HMI, they are accustomed to helping people with health problems that have been considered unsolvable, sometimes for decades. In part, our success results from our use of state-of-the-art technologies such as infrared light therapy. For example, more than 95% of their patients with long-standing back or neck pain experience major improvement. They also see exceptional results in the treatment of conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome, neuropathies, and sports injuries.

They are the only physician-supervised facility in California that provides both infrared light therapy and infrared imaging for the treatment of pain disorders. In many cases, severe pain vanishes in just a few treatments, without the need for medication or surgery.

Because our practitioners work collaboratively, treatment often succeeds beyond the limits of what is possible through any single discipline. Many of their patients have experienced impressive results in the treatment or management of disorders such as cancer, heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, digestive conditions, fatigue, headaches, anxiety, and depression. Their approach pairs Western medicine with therapies such as Chinese medicine or bodywork, depending on the needs of the individual.

Another critically important ingredient in their success is the compassion of our practitioners and staff. They make every effort to provide the finest quality care possible and to create a warm sense of community. Many of their patients have commented positively about the HMI’s healing atmosphere and the personalized care they receive.

They consider the greatest reward is to see their patients get better and resume healthy lives.

[Via http://dmedicine.wordpress.com]

Monday Morning JetLawg

In the news . . .

First U.S. inmate executed through new intravenous method.

Too much sex in television ads recently?

Critics slam Saturday Night Live for being insensitive toward domestic violence after Tiger Woods skit.

Actress looks for lifesaver after $1.7 million tax lien.

Fearful of long prison sentence, 22-year-old pleads guilty to accidental child pornography download.

Google brings trademark infringement lawsuit against work-at-home spammers.

Woman seeks $5 million from Burger King for text message advertisements.

Amidst Homeland Security probe regarding White House party crash, reality tv husband Tareq Salahi resigns from government job.

Porn king Larry Flynt wins lawsuit against nephews over use of family name in title of porn company.

Mascot for New England Patriots arrested in sex sting.

Sports Illustrated has conversation with NBA Commissioner David Stern about legalizing gambling in professional basketball.

Countersuit filed against the band No Doubt in Band Hero avatar dispute.

[Via http://jetl.wordpress.com]

George Bush Discusses Medical Liability Reform | Political Video | George W. Bush Video Archive

Based on a tip from Tom Baker’s book The Medical Malpractice Myth,” I found some video of then President Bush (43) arguing the following:

Many of the costs that we’re talking about don’t start in an examining room or an operating room. They start in a courtroom. (Applause.) What’s happening all across this country is that lawyers are filing baseless suits against hospitals and doctors. That’s just a plain fact. (Applause.) And they’re doing it for a simple reason. They know the medical liability system is tilted in their favor. (Applause.) Jury awards in medical liability cases have skyrocketed in recent years. That means every claim filed by a personal injury lawyer brings the chance of a huge payoff or a profitable settlement out of court. That’s what that means. Doctors and hospitals realize this. They know it’s expensive to fight a lawsuit, even if it doesn’t have any merit. And because the system is so unpredictable, there is a constant risk of being hit by a massive jury award. So doctors end up paying tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to settle claims out of court, even when they know they have done nothing wrong.

He was, as we shall see, exactly, oppositely wrong.

For live footage, click the following: George Bush Discusses Medical Liability Reform | Political Video | George W. Bush Video Archive.

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• “Too many OB/GYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across this country.”-George Bush (unaskedadvice.wordpress.com)

[Via http://howtobuythemicourts.wordpress.com]

New Keri Hilson...

Really like this

Piles Ft. Keri Hilson – Medicine

‘I’ll be your prescription
Come and take a dose of me
Once you get a dose of me
You’ll think that I’m ya medicine’

xo

[Via http://xotashaa.wordpress.com]

Untimely cut on NHS IT system in pre-Budget report

Image by G’n'L photos via Flickr

The latest move in Whitehall to claw back some of the huge amounts of money spent to save the banking system and tackle the recession, is to reduce funding and scope of the NHS IT system.

Now, this has definitely not been a perfect project, with delays, imperfect implementation and large costs. However, results are beginning to bear fruit. Most hospitals have digital radiology (X-rays, CT, MRI, etc…). Nearly all GP practices are computerised. Hospitals that are hooked onto the main computer system can now request scans + tests all online, resulting in huge time savings. The initial interface is constantly being modfied to increase functionality, and finally staff are becoming familiar with its workings (which itself improves efficiency).

In view of the above, it seems incredibly short-sighted to pull the plug on this long-term and promising project. Then again, long-term sentiments don’t win short-term elections…

[Via http://gpollara.wordpress.com]

Take the poll: Are women people?

Senator Ben Nelson has said he doesn’t want people to lose coverage under health care reform.

But he’s also said he wants to offer an abortion coverage ban amendment to the Senate health reform bill that is similar to the dangerous Stupak amendment. It would take away women’s ability to purchase coverage for abortion care with their own funds in the health insurance exchanges and the public plan.

Join me in taking the poll – Are women people?

Then sign the petition.

(Thanks, Jender-Mom!)

[Via http://feministphilosophers.wordpress.com]

Exams - Just a Week & Half More

Just a week and half more that’s all there’s left.

Just Opthalmology & E.N.T.

Just ten more days & I’m scott free whooee!!

Just ten more days & I can take a break,

Though a short fortnight it may only be.

Just a week and half more that’s all there’s left.

Opthal  & ENT will ready be?

Epide-, physio-, Patho-, signs & sympts,

Neglect thee not my differentials too,

Tests, Treat, Prognose, my bread and butter be.

Just a week and half more that’s all there’s left

Oh God what have I done with all my time!

More material to burn in time there is,

much less hope to actually read it all,

Oh God I really can’t afford to fail!

(Just something it thought up in the shower’s this morning before I went for this morning’s papers…)

[Via http://qwertysmithy.wordpress.com]

Age of Personalized Medicine: New Blog

I was glad to share the new blog of the Human Genome Organisation with you a few weeks ago. Now here is the new blog of the Age of Personalized Medicine which is a quality website dedicated to the possible implications of personalized medicine.

Welcome to The Age of Personalized Medicine Blog! Each week, our expert contributors will address the most pressing science and policy issues of the day that are shaping the future of personalized medicine.

Tomorrow, Amy Miller of the Personalized Medicine Coalition (PMC) will share her thoughts on the intersection of personalized medicine and comparative effectiveness research, and highlight the topics being discussed at the Comparative Effectiveness Research and Personalized Medicine: Policy, Science, and Business conference in Washington, D.C. We invite you to join the discussion!

Though both blogs are good initiatives, there is a clear difference between them. The difference is Dr. Hsien-Hsien Lei who is the official editor of HUGO Matters and one of the best genetic bloggers in the whole blogosphere. No matter how fantastic experts write entries for a blog if the blog itself doesn’t have an editor who is an expert in managing blogs. You can be proficient in writing articles for scientific journals or news sites, but it doesn’t mean you are a good blogger as well.

[Via http://scienceroll.com]

Vitamin D and Heart Disease

From the Times of India

Right from the health of your immune system to prevention of heart disease
and even vulnerability to influenza, vitamin D is now seen as one of the most critical nutrients for overall health.

But it is also one of those most likely to be deficient – especially during winter when production of the “sunshine vitamin” almost grinds to a halt for people.

Analogs of the vitamin are even being considered for use as new therapies against tuberculosis, AIDS, and other concerns.

And federal experts are considering an increase in the recommended daily intake of the vitamin as more evidence of its value emerges, especially for the elderly.

“About 70 percent of the population of the United States has insufficient levels of vitamin D. This is a critical issue as we learn more about the many roles it may play in fighting infection, balancing your immune response, helping to address autoimmune problems, and even preventing heart disease,” said Adrian Gombart, a principal investigator with the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University.

Read the rest of the article

[Via http://freedominfo.wordpress.com]

Let Us Remind Ourselves On HIV/AIDS

Today, December 1st is a World AIDS day. The acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) was first recognized in the early 1980s. AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and is spread through the exchange of body fluids (sexual encounters, sharing needles, blood transfusions).

Etiology

Recent research suggests the virus “jumped” to humans from a West African subspecies of chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) intermittently decades or even centuries ago. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that millions are infected with HIV worldwide and that it is the most devastating epidemic since the influenza pandemic of 1918. There are some predictions that HIV will not be controlled until the middle of the next century and that it may continue to devastate developing countries for the next 100 years.

Pathology

HIV is a unique human RNA virus, capable of infecting cells of the immune system. Specifically, HIV targets T helper cells (CD4 cells), leading to the eventual death of the cell. CD4 cells are vital players in the regulation of immune responses to invading microorganisms. In an untreated person, 10 billion to 100 billion new viruses are produced per day. This massive viral replication leads to a progressive loss of CD4 cells over a period of several years to as long as a decade. And destruction of CD4 cells renders a patient vulnerable to unusual opportunistic infections (OIs) that are rarely seen in healthy humans. Most patients who die from AIDS succumb to one or more OIs.

Diagnosis

Trend in seroconversion

HIV INFECTION begins with a sharp rise of virus in the blood (orange line) and a consequent drop in CD4 T cells (blue line). The immune system soon recovers somewhat, however, and keeps HIV levels fairly steady for several years. Eventually, though, the virus gains the upper hand. AIDS is diagnosed when the CD4 T cell level drops below 200 cells per cubic millimeter of blood or when opportunistic infections arise.

Treatment

Combinations of drugs such as nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors and protease inhibitors can help control viral replication, restore immune function and maintain health. We have seen patients literally on their deathbed return to full-time employment. The bad news is that long-term toxicity to virtually all these drugs has increasingly been recognized as patients take these medications for longer periods of time. In addition, patients must take the combination (commonly called HAART, for highly active anti-retroviral therapy) exactly as prescribed.

If adherence to the regimen is not perfect, HIV can quickly become resistant to the medication. And once an initial combination fails, it is less likely a second, different combination will be effective. The good news is that newer drugs active against resistant viral strains and newer approaches to treatment are on the way. It is also important to note that HIV research may lead to advances in the treatment of other viral infections, as well as cancers, metabolic diseases (diabetes, high cholesterol) and other immune system disorders.

Updates

Researchers have designed a protein that can inhibit HIV infection by blocking the virus’s entry into cells. This protective protein, known as 5-Helix, binds to a vulnerable region of an HIV coat protein called gp41, thus preventing the virus from fusing with membrane of the cell it is attacking and infecting it. What’s more, 5-Helix appears to effectively thwart a wide range of HIV strains. As such, it may serve as the basis for developing a new class of anti-HIV drugs. Alternatively it could be used in prophylactic treatments (say, after an accidental needle prick in a hospital), or perhaps as a vaccine.

[Via http://mohdjamil.wordpress.com]

การแพทย์แผนไทย

3010332    การแพทย์แผนไทย    Thai Traditional Medicine

การรักษาโรค การป้องกันโรค และการส่งเสริมสุขภาพ โดยใช้การแพทย์แผนไทยและภูมิปัญญาท้องถิ่นของไทย ซึ่งครอบคลุมการนวด การอบ การประคบ และการใช้สมุนไพร

(Thai traditional medicine and Thai folk wisdom for curative purpose, disease, prevention and health promotion including massage, sauna, massage with a bag of heated medicinal herbs, and use of medicineal herbs.)

(3010332 จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย)

[Via http://sclaimon.wordpress.com]

เวชศาสตร์ฟื้นฟู

3020718    เวชศาสตร์ฟื้นฟู    Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

การประเมินหน้าที่ของระบบประสาท รวมทั้งกายภาพบำบัดเพื่อฟื้นฟูสมรรถภาพผู้ป่วยโรคทางระบบประสาท

(Functional evaluation and rehabilitation in neurological disorders.)

(3020718 จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย)

[Via http://sclaimon.wordpress.com]

Misdiagnosed With Coma, Belgian Man Communicates After 23 Years

Very sad.Some doctors, despite fancy degrees,make a cursory examination and arrive at a prognosis.
In this case brain activity should have been mapped or at least pupil dilation examination should have been more thorough.
It is very hard to digest that that this should happen because of inefficiency of the doctors.
Many of us regard doctors next to God, forgetting that medicine is an evolving science ; most of the treatments are exploratory in Nature and these procedures have contra indications as well;some of the medications are effective with out anybody knowing why and how it cures.Classic example is grand mal seizure .We know that this seizure is triggered by sudden increase in electrical discharges in the brain and Eption is prescribed to treat this.But none knows how it works or whether it has side effects.
Because of commercialization of medicine , neither the doctor nor the patient has the time to discuss family history of the patient;nor are the patients interested in slow and steady cure or allowing body to take care with minimal supportive treatment.
It is imperative for patients to inform and discuss with the doctor,your family history,your known allergies and your symptoms.
It is also mandatory on the part of the patients to check the medicines prescribed for contra indications.If yes, inform the doctor and have the medicine changed.Even then you should also chek up on internet about the medicine’s efficacy.This may sound tedious, but will save not only money, but your life as well.
When going for surgery check before hand the anesthesia that is about to me administered and see if it it is compatible with your system for some anesthetics are incompatible.
If you had any disease prior to surgery that has resulted in Edema(especially pulmonary), Nitrous oxide is to be shunned.
While getting tests being carried out make sure at the lab, it is done for the part for which you have problem i.e.what the doctor has prescribed and see that the report is yours when you collect it.Never depute somebody else to collect it.
Also popping pills based on advertisement or based on what your doctor has prescribed earlier ailments is dangerous.
All these jobs are to be carried out by Doctors.Unfortunately,Doctors have no time for patients for they are too busy.

Story:

Conscious but unable to communicate for 23 years after a car accident that was thought to have put him into a deep coma, a quadriplegic Belgian man has described how medical science finally put an end to his agonizing years of silence.

Now able to make himself understood via a computer and specially built keyboard, the man, Rom Houben, said in the Monday issue of the German magazine Der Spiegel that when doctors made the correct diagnosis, it was like starting a second life.

“I shall never forget the day when they discovered what was truly wrong with me — it was my second birth,” Mr. Houben, now 46, was quoted as saying.

Mr. Houben, who was an engineering student at the time of the accident, lives in a care home near Brussels. He was assumed to be in a persistent vegetative state until three years ago, when the breakthrough was made.

In the interview he recalled the aftermath of the car accident that paralyzed him and the realization that no one understood that he was fully conscious.

“I screamed, but there was nothing to hear,” he said. He added that he then became a witness to his own suffering as doctors and nurses tried to speak with him until they gave up all hope.

Using brain scanning techniques, Dr. Steven Laureys, a neurological researcher at the Liège University Hospital, discovered that Mr. Houben’s cerebral cortex was still active.

On Monday, Dr. Laureys, who recently published a paper on comas, said that as many as 4 out of 10 similar patients may have been misdiagnosed.

He also described the moment he realized, for the first time that Mr. Houben was fully conscious. “It was one of those rare moments where you really see that what you are doing is useful,” he said in a telephone interview.

“It was a very big moment not just for me but for the whole team, one of those few much-needed moments” for medical professionals.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/world/europe/24iht-coma.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=a4

[Via http://ramanan50.wordpress.com]

An article on autism that gets it right

Laboratory tests used to justify therapies are often misleading and misinterpreted. And though some parents fervently believe their children have benefited, the Tribune found a trail of disappointing results from the few clinical trials to evaluate the treatments objectively.

Studies have shown that up to three-quarters of families with children with autism try alternative treatments, which insurance does not usually cover. Doctors, many linked to the influential group Defeat Autism Now!, promote the therapies online, in books and at conferences

From: Autism treatments: risky alternative therapies have little basis in science

Alternative therapies amount to uncontrolled experimentation on children, investigation finds

When you’re done, a commentary on this article can be read over at Neurologica.

[Via http://questionablemotives.wordpress.com]

Understanding Water

 

An understanding of water could change, impact, affect and revolutionize the practice of modern medicine.In today’s medical world it is believed that ’solids’ such as proteins, minerals and vitamins in the body are most important. For the most part, to this industry WATER is incidental. Water is seen merely as a solvent for transporting these solids through the body. Wrong.

Water is pure life-force. Water is one of the major keys to remaining disease-free and ridding the body of Cancer, Senile Dementia, Chronic Fatique Sundrome and more. At an optimum level, you should drink 1 litre of fresh water per day for every 22 kilograms of bodyweight.

 

I discuss water in alot more detail in my Farmacist Desk Reference (FDR) – the Encyclopedia of Wholefood Medicine. If you don’t already own an FDR, it is a 2 volume set, containing over 1,600 pages of Self-Care, Health and Healing Wisdom. CLICK HERE now and discover why the FDR is the best investment you could ever make in yours and your family’s health.

 

 

[Via http://dontolmanusa.wordpress.com]

The medibots are coming

Via KurzweilAI.net — This is a concept that combines a lot of elements — excitement, concern, fear, hope and quite a bit of creepy.

Medibots: The world’s smallest surgeons New Scientist Health, Nov. 20, 2009

Advances in robotics could revolutionize healthcare, pushing the limits of what surgeons can achieve, from worm-inspired capsules to crawl through your gut, and systems swallowed in pieces that assemble themselves inside the body, to surgical robots that will soon be ready to embark on a fantastic voyage through our bodies, homing in on the part that’s ailing and fixing it from the inside.

Swimming camera capsule (The Royal College of Surgeons / Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna)

 

Read Original Article>>

To eat or not to eat? Mental budgets help winning diet battles.

Mental budget helps.Coupled with a strong will, diet can be controlled..
Story:
Ever felt like you are losing the battle with a triple-chocolate cake, don’t worry just set a “mental budget” as a new study claimed that it helps in controlling consumption.

According to researchers Parthasarathy Krishnamurthy from University of Houston and Sonja Prokopec from ESSEC Business School, France, one can rein in overeating by setting a mental budget, Journal of Consumer Research reported.

“For those who wish to cut out those desserts, our research suggests some simple tips. First, it is important to have a mental budget. At the very least, it allows you to keep track of how you are doing with respect to your goal,” they said.

They added, “Second, make sure the budget works as a limit rather than a licence for the consumption behavior. To do this, it is important to have an active goal of controlling the consumption.”

Krishnamurthy said, “There are some behaviors that people try to limit but have trouble doing so. Even as one aims to curtail consumption of sugars and fat, one ends up consuming the tiramisu or the triple-chocolate cake. Such discrepancies between one’s goals and actual behaviors represent instances of self-control failure”.

The authors conducted several studies where they encouraged some participants to set mental budgets and compared them to people who did not set budgets. They examined their consumption of sweet treats, and they discovered that they controlled over-eating.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/health/To-eat-or-not-to-eat-Mental-budgets-help-winning-diet-battles/Article1-477950.aspx

New ways of regulating dose given to patients: Individualized Medicine

Last year the official completion of the human genome sequence was announced, capping years of hard work. Now that the flashbulbs have dimmed, scientists are taking a hard look at the results. Benefits of the sequence were prophesied to include ‘magic bullet’ therapeutics, individualized medicine, and the prediction of disease long before symptoms surface.

But to realize these breakthroughs, we must fashion the four-letter code we all share into tools physicians can use, and ensure that these tools are readily available. Although one graduate student can now make huge strides with access to the Internet and basic molecular biology equipment, true success may demand nothing short of entirely new methods of clinical study and reorganization of existing academic structures.

The road to treatments based on genomic information has not been smooth, but clinical trials are underway for a number of new therapies. New methods of mutation screening are emerging, both for the genome and for the ‘epigenome’ layered onto it.

An understanding of the many mutations that underlie complex diseases and adverse drug reactions is now in our sights, aided by a large international effort to define the differences between our individual genomes. And the availability of genome sequence from our close and far evolutionary relatives is helping us to decipher the signals of genes and regulatory elements from the noise of background DNA, which is not yet fully understood.

Another Bill Maher Smackdown

Maher has fallen prey to the alternative medicine’s package of propaganda, misinformation, and subtle distortions. Because he is a popular media personality, his views are influential. Fellow skeptic Michael Shermer wrote an open letter published in the New York Times urging Maher to reconsider his anti-vaccination views.

Maher has responded here called A conversation worth having. In it, Maher attempts to justify his position in much the same way that creationists tackle the science of evolution: by evasion, logical fallacies, placing blame, and basically refusing to do the work necessary to understand the science but more than willing to improperly criticize that which he does not understand. So what can we make of Maher’s response?

To our rescue comes another smackdown by Neurologica’s Steve Novella. Why should he bother? As Steve explains, Maher is contributing to the public misunderstanding of science in perhaps the most important area – medicine. That is very serious, and he needs to start taking it seriously. That’s very good advice for all of us: we need to take scientific misunderstanding seriously.

Physicians' Night Shifts are Dangerous

I know the title won’t surprise anyone but now here is a publication that tried to find a scientific explanation for this phenomenon.

Aims: To evaluate the effects of a 24 h (h) physicians on-call duty(OCD) (‘night shift’) on 24 h electrocardiogram(ECG), heart rate variability, blood pressure (BP), and variousbiochemical serum and urine ‘stress markers’ comparedwith a ‘regular’ day at work.

Methods and results: The study was designed as a prospective randomized cross-overtrial with each physician completing a 24 h (h) OCD and a 24h control period including a regular 8 h non-OCD. Thirty healthyphysicians with a median age of 33.5 years (range 29.0–45.0)were analysed. Twenty-four hours ECG and BP monitoring wereperformed and participants were instructed to fill out an eventdiary and perform a 24 h urine collection. Furthermore, bloodwas drawn before and after OCD and control day.

Conclusion: Our results highlight the association of OCD with an increasedrisk profile for cardiovascular disease. In addition to theacute effects observed, frequent night-calls over a longer periodpossibly elicit sustained alterations in cardiovascular homeostasis.

Reference:

Arrhythmias and increased neuro-endocrine stress response during physicians’ night shifts: a randomized cross-over trial

Rauchenzauner et al, European Heart Journal 2009 30(21):2606-2613;

어마어마한 여드름 짜내기

I am looking for people to translate this post into Spanish for me. Email me if you are interested.

This post has been translated into Italian as Un Bisturi Una Cisti (traduzione in italiano) and into French as Un Bistouri Un Kyste (en Français).

This is a Korean translation of the One Lance, One Cyst post. Most people should be able to handle watching this post, though it is rather gross. It was translated by 넝근넝근, who does incredible work.

나는 단지 의학적 지식을 궁구히 하는 목적으로 올렸을 뿐입니다이 비디오는 정말 역겹습니다.

전 이걸 단지 의학 비디오로 보고있습니다. 아마도 진료실에서 촬영한것 같군요. 보기엔 더러운 낭종 (혹은 염증, 여드름 아니면 다른 어떤걸)을 채혈하고 있습니다. 외관상으로는 피지낭으로 보입니다.

전 중년이지만 여드름 터뜨리는걸 좋아합니다. 흉터를 남긴다는 건 알지만 솔직하게 말하면 특히 당신이 손을 깨끗이 씻고 샤워를 자주 한다면 여드름은 없어질 것이고 문제가 되지 않을겁니다.

여기에 나오는 건 역사상 가장 무시무시한 여드름 같군요. 계속 짜내자 서서히 줄어들어 끝날 것 처럼 보입니다. 의사가 막 끝낼거라고 생각하는 순간 이 여드름은 또 다시 우글우글 쏟아집니다.

당신이 내가 이 영상을 올린데에 불만스럽다면.

Smoking ban in the time of swine flu

(c) Getty Images

People all over the world are sent home to get well or they are hospitalised due to the swine flu. It has been established that the illness is highly contagious so people who think they caught it are encouraged to avoid meeting their colleagues and friends and family members.

At the same time, smokers who are proved to have caused thousands of deaths of people who suffered from second-hand smoke can happily live their lives, unchanged.

But what is the difference between a patient who may spread the swine flu and a smoker whose bad habit will sooner or later get some people sick and seriously ill as well? I don’t see any difference.

Many countries have strict smoking bans, and they work. Other countries’ governments stick to stupid arguments why it is not possible. We have hundreds of thousands of people walking around, slowly killing their fellow citizens.

Let’s say I have lunch in a restaurant.  A group of beer friend enters, they sit down, order beers and start smoking. I approach them, start coughing and tell them I am positive I have the swine flu. They are going to tell me “Are you nuts, walking around making other people sick?”

At which point it would be my turn to say “See my f****** point?”

Ayurvedic Tongue Analysis

“While thou livest, keep a good tongue in thy head.”

William Shakespeare

Recently I attended a class at the Ayurvedic institute, and had the good fortune of seeing Dr. Lad individually for a tongue analysis. With one brief look Dr. Lad responded “There’s pain in your shoulder blades, grief and sorrow in your heart, a thyroid condition and a harmless parasitic infection.”

I got chill bumps and could barely speak. I nodded and waited to hear what else he might say, hoping he would prescribe some magic remedy. Without me saying a word about the details of my health, Dr. Lad had figured out that I had lost function of my thyroid (a few years earlier from Graves disease-he didn’t know that part), sorrow from a recent divorce, chronic pain in my shoulder blades from stress and that I had a mild parasitic infection, perhaps from the New Mexico tap water.

He told me to watch the changes in my tongue as I began my healing process. He wrote down a mysterious Ayurvedic herbal remedy especially designed for each of my imbalances, taking into consideration my genetic Ayurvedic constitution. After religiously taking these herbs, (that tasted like dirt by the way) every day with warm water, I curiously watched my tongue clear up and reshape itself.

The tongue is a holographic map of every aspect of ourselves. Once we learn to identify the markers it’s very easy to read, and basic tongue diagnosis can be taught in a weekend workshop.

The ancient art of Tongue Analysis has it’s root in the science of Ayurveda, although many other ancient eastern healing systems use this method as well, including Chinese Medicine. When we use the tongue as a tool for analysis and diagnosis, we are looking at the shape, shadings, markings, wetness, texture and even the “way” someone sticks out their tongue. Having this knowledge can help describe the current state of a person’(or animal’s) health, as well as their genetic tendencies.

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Herbal medicines | Medical treatment Center | Herbal treatment | Blue Optical

 

8 Pigeons? I'll Check the Regs...

I love urban legends:  The one about the killer calling the babysitter from inside the house, or the acne that turned out to be a quivering pod of spider eggs.  You know, all those.

But my favorite is the one about how you can cause pigeons and seagulls to explode by giving them Alka-Seltzer.  I’m serious.  EXPLODE.

This myth is cool for the science-fair, medico-extravagance of it.  But I also harbor a fairly pathological grudge against seagulls.  Sure, their winsome cry carrying on the breeze hearlds the nearness of the endless sea.  Thousands of poems and stories and paintings concern themselves with these ocean-going fowl.  But I lost all romance toward the seagull when a GIANT group of them ate an entire bag – including the bag – of Chips A’hoy cookies while my buddy and I were surfing once.  I’m STILL looking forward to eating those cookies, and that was 8 years ago.

Why do they explode?  Apparently, birds have a one-way alimentary tract, which means they can’t burp.  Give them something effervescent, all that gas has nowhere to go aaaaand – POW! Alice, straight to the moon.

You can understand, then, why my favorite patient currently is a guy who actually tested this one-way-no-burp-POW! theory.  For all my grudges against the birds, I’m still too much of a softy to actually blow them up.

Not Jake, though.  He went for it.  And still doesn’t feel bad about it.

He went with pigeons – same class as seagulls, if I was the ornithologist in charge – and trying out the theory got him kicked out of the Army.  ’Course, he tried it on 8 birds at the same time.  After he stuffed them into his commanding officer’s new Chevy Tahoe.

“So, it really works, then?  They blow up?”

“Yeah, it works.”  He said, looking bored and chewing on a cuticle as I nearly wept with laughter.

“They ALL exploded in your commander’s car?”

 

Uugggh, did you eat a bunch of those little white crackers too?

Suddenly he perked up, eyes sharp and intelligent, “Nah, not all of ‘em.  Some just shit all over the place.”

Imagining his commander’s reaction the next morning after finding the most colossal mess of all time, just brightens my day every time I think about it.

 

By some miracle, this guy got away with his life after that episode.  More miraculously, after getting CHAPTERED out of the military (basically a court-martial without the court or jail), he got back into the Army just a few years later. “On a wavier for bi-polar disorder, in remission.”  He said with a wicked smirk.  ”Needed a paycheck.”

I can only imagine the ever-positive recruiter.  ”Oh, well, 8 pigeons?  Only 8?  I’ll check the regs…there’s probably nothing in there that expressly forbids entry into the military for blowing up birds.  No problem, man.  I’m sure we’re good.  Now, I can’t promise you a bonus, you understand..”

Now he’s on his way back out of the military, via my unit.  He’s wry, filled with black, intelligent wit and flat-out hates authority.  I’m not sure I’d call this a mental disorder… but in the Army, a guy like this is nothin’ but stark-raving nuts.

Of course, once he gets bored…he’ll be back.

 

POOF!

 

 

Form of Mercury in Older Dental Fillings Unlikely to be Toxic

Safety of Mercury-containing fillings Introduction

University of Saskatchewan research team found that surface forms of mercury in older “silver” fillings (also known as amalgams) may be less toxic than previously thought. But due to the significant mercury loss over time, human exposure to mercury lost from fillings is “still of concern” and that further research is needed to determine when, how and in what form mercury is lost from fillings.  Despite the fact that their finding is far from conclusive, we still should have our old fillings checked during our routine visits (at least once every 6  months) to our dentist.

Dental Amalgam ( Mercury) Fillings may be less toxic than previously thought.

by Graham George, B.Sc., D.Phil., et.al

Amid the on-going controversy over the safety of mercury-containing dental fillings, a University of Saskatchewan research team has shed new light on how the chemical forms of mercury at the surface of fillings change over time.

Their work, just published in the American Chemical Society journal Chemical Research in Toxicology, shows that the surface forms of mercury in older “silver” fillings (also known as amalgams) may be less toxic than previously thought.

“The dental amalgam on the surface of an old tooth filling may have lost as much as 95 per cent of its mercury but what’s left is in a form that is unlikely to be toxic in the body,” said U of S Canada Research Chair Graham George who led the study.

But the team cautions that due to the significant mercury loss over time, human exposure to mercury lost from fillings is “still of concern” and that further research is needed to determine when, how and in what form mercury is lost from fillings.

Mercury-based fillings have been used by dentists to repair teeth for well over a century. But in recent decades, their use has become controversial due to concerns about exposure to potentially toxic mercury.

“Mercury can potentially exist in several different chemical forms, each with a different toxicity,” said George. “Prior to our work, little was known about how the chemical forms of mercury in dental amalgam might change over time.”

The team used a special X-ray technique at the Stanford Sychrotron Radiation Lightsource to probe the amount and chemical nature of mercury at the surface of both freshly prepared metal fillings and aged fillings (about 20 years old) obtained from the U of S dental clinic’s tooth bank.

While the fresh fillings contained metallic mercury, which can be toxic, aged fillings contained a form of mercury called beta-mercuric sulfide or metacinnabar which is unlikely to be toxic in the body. For this reason, grinding or polishing during dental cleaning is unlikely to cause any toxic effects.

But of potential greater concern is the nature of the surface mercury lost from fillings. This may be due to evaporation (with subsequent inhalation and leaching of mercury into saliva), exposure to some kinds of dental hygiene products such as those containing peroxides, exposure to certain sulphur-containing foods (such as onion and garlic or coffee), or other factors.

“Possibly this missing mercury is in the less toxic form of mercury (metacinnabar) abraded from the surface of the filling. Or alternatively, it may be mercury lost prior to formation of the metacinnabar through various types of exposures,” said George.

In North America, the traditional view is that the advantages of mercury-containing amalgam outweigh any possible health risks, and for this reason, mercury-containing dental amalgams are still widely used.

Other members of the team include Satya Singh, Jay Hoover, and Canada Research Chair Ingrid Pickering. This project was supported by a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Conclusion

Because of its durability, dental amalgam (mercury based) are still widely used in North America and other developed countries. With new types of tooth colored fillings, most dentists are gradually phasing out its use. In the case of Dr Kamsiah, she has never used dental amalgam for fillings in her private practice (since 1997).  This is a matter of her personal choice to ensure that her patients are not exposed to unnecessary health risks.

No More Tonsilloliths

Many people have suffered from tonsil stones also known as tonsilloliths but are not aware of the cause of this annoying condition. A lot of the time the cause of tonsil stones is undigested food which has become lodged among the tonsils. This is the reason why experts advise to maintain a proper hygiene if you have tonsil stones. Particles of bacteria, mucous and white blood cells then surround the undigested food. The body then sees this particle of food as a foreign object and tries to remove it. This causes the small white stones that are found at the back of the mouth.

Problems which could be caused by these tonsil stones include ear aches, bad breath, irritation of the throat, bad taste in the mouth, coughing and white tongue. If you have been suffering from any of these complaints you may have tonsil stones. If you consult your doctor, he can tell you whether or not you have an infection or whether you are in fact suffering from tonsil stones. Now you are aware of the main problem which causes tonsil stones.

If you do have tonsil stones, your next issue is how to get rid of them. There are many methods that may temporarily get rid of the stones but which will not get rid of the problem. However, there is a natural way to completely get rid of the tonsil stones and the cause. This method has already been tested by a huge number of people. For more information visit the website above. I think this article will provide you with enough information on tonsil stones. I hope you will get rid of the problem soon.

Obesity responsible for 100,000 cancer cases annually-CNN

And fast/junk/convenience/comfort foods are the main reasons for obesity.
Avoidence of irregular eating habits, eating snacks whenver one feels like are other major causes of obesity.
Why can’t we avoid it?
Story:
CNN) — More than 100,000 cases of cancer each year are caused by excess body fat, according to a report released Thursday in Washington.

Researchers with the American Institute for Cancer Research looked at seven cancers with known links to obesity and calculated actual case counts that were likely to have been caused by obesity.

Specifically, the report says that 49 percent of endometrial cancers are caused by excess body fat. That number is followed by 35 percent of esophageal cancer cases; 28 percent of pancreatic cancer cases; 24 percent of kidney cancer cases; 21 percent of gallbladder cancer cases; 17 percent of breast cancer cases; and 9 percent of colorectal cancer cases.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/11/05/obesity.cancer.link/index.html

The English Sweate

“In this same yere a newe kynde of sicknes came sodenly through the whole region euen after the first entryng of the kyng into this Isle, which was so sore, so peynfull, & sharp that the lyke was neuer harde of, to any manes remembrance before that tyme”

—Hall’s Chronicle, Edward Hall, 1542

It feels like new diseases are a modern scourge, what with HIV successfully crossing over to humans from chimps in the early 20th century, Ebola from bats in the 1970s, and SARS from civets in the early 21st. If you want more of them then there’s also less well-known newcomers like Nipah virus and once-famous but now nearly forgotten ones like Legionnaires’ Disease. But while it might be true that new diseases are getting more common, they’re not a new phenomenon. The Roman Empire suffered the Antonine Plague, which was likely the first major appearance of smallpox, while a few hundred years later the Byzantine Empire barely withstood the Plague of Justinian: the first pandemic of bubonic plague, one that was only ever matched by the famous Black Death of the 14th century.

What made the difference in many of these cases was a decrease in travel times. AIDS, for example, only got going once there was quick and common travel between central Africa and the rest of the world. There were multiple cases of the disease back into the 1950s, but the necessary integration between the source and destination for a true outbreak didn’t really happen until the late 1970s—and fortunately so, as the genetic science and technology necessary to understand, fight, and eventually control a retroviral disease was only developed at that time. It doesn’t bear thinking what would have happened if AIDS had taken flight in 1959.

The older “new plagues” got themselves going for similar reasons. Modern outbreaks are depending more and more on fast, technological travel like airplanes, but easy travel in the past could sometimes come for political reasons. The Antonine Plague likely came from the far upstream regions of the Nile, and could do so because the Roman Empire had pacified Egypt and made it part of a lage peaceful state with good roads.  The Plague of Justinian may have happened when it did, in the sixth century, because the Yersinia pestis bacteria had a permanent hold in Hunan Province and the sixth century was not long after the chaotic Sixteen Kingdoms period ended. China was finally integrated into Asia as a whole, driven by new state support of India’s exported Buddhism and subsequent contacts between the two regions. The bubonic plague just came along for the ride.

It also helps if there’s some unrest in the context of the larger peace. To continue with the Plague of Justinian, China may have become part of the larger world, but it was also subdivided between the Northern and Southern Dynasties until 589 AD, and they warred more or less constantly. Poor harvests and population displacement make societies less able to withstand disease, which ultimately might help to explain one of the more mysterious outbreaks of new disease in in history.

In 1485, England was at the tail end of a vicious series of civil wars, the Wars of the Roses. There had been more than a decade of peace under Edward IV, but the notorious Richard III had come to power and Henry Tudor was on the verge of overthrowing him at the Battle of Bosworth. Henry had landed with his army with Milford Haven and at the same place and same time a new disease broke out and started following him. The new king had literally just arrived in London and established himself firmly when the English Sweate did the same. By the end of October, several thousand Londoners were dead, and the disease had spread to the countryside.

The Sweating Sickness became a source of particular dread, at least among the upper class, because unlike many other diseases it affected the well-fed and relatively clean nobility just as badly as the yeomanry. The fratricidal conflict of York and Lancaster had left the English nobility thin on the ground already, but the new plague took more still over the next few decades. Even worse, it came on and killed extremely quickly, to the point that its victims are often described as “merry about diner and dedde at supper”. When it struck, the patient would at first feel a sense of apprehension and chills which would quickly turn into a very high fever, heart palpitations, and the eponymous sweating. As the fever continued he would be struck with lethargy and a desire to sleep, and the consensus at the time was that if he gave in he wouldn’t wake up.

The first bout of the sickness disappeared that winter, and Henry Tudor settled in as Henry VII of England. But despite the traditional end of the Wars of the Roses, England continued to be quite tumultuous during and after Henry’s reign—there was the attempt to put Lambert Simnel on the throne in 1487, then Perkin Warbeck’s rebellion in 1491. Henry VIII’s time brought a Scottish invasion in 1513 and the Pilgrimage of Grace uprising in 1536.

During it all, the English Sweate kept burning through England (it hopped to the continent only once, in 1528), returning in 1507, 1517, 1528, and 1551, always in the summer. In between these recurrences there would be sporadic cases, and one of these may have carried off the disease’s most politically important victim: Arthur, the eldest son of Henry VII and so heir to the throne of England. In his absence Arthur’s younger brother became Henry VIII, who married Arthur’s widow Catherine of Aragon with all the consequences that would eventually have for English and European history.

Then after 1551 the Sweating Sickness vanished, with only a few isolated cases between then and 1578, and none at all after that. The final outbreak gave us our best description of the disease, as physician John Kay (AKA Dr. Caius, the inspiration for the character of the same name in The Merry Wives of Windsor) wrote down his own analysis of the plague in A Boke or Counseill Against the Disease Commonly Called the Sweate, or Sweatyng Sicknesse. Another contemporary description of note is, Edward Hall’s Chronicle is quoted in part at the top of this article. These and other similar descriptions are virtually the only clues we have as to what caused the sickness.

Even so, the identity of the English Sweate has been a topic of considerable speculation. Some start from a similar disease, usually called the Picardy Sweat, which showed up across the English Channel in the 18th and 19th centuries. The appearance of northern France in the equation is suggestive, as Henry VI had invaded from there and there’s a close connection between his army and the establishment of the disease in England. On the other hand the Picardy Sweat’s alternative name, the now-obsolete miliary fever, suggests otherwise: “miliary” is just a Latinate description of the tiny pimples which would break out on the skin of victims. Caius’ rather complete description of the English Sweate makes no mention of eruptions.

The current best guess is that the Sweating Sickness might have been caused by a hantavirus which lurked unnoticed in the rodent population of England, and which made an appearance in the 16th century because of the unsettled political and military situation, or unusual weather, or simple evolution of a new strain. If so, it’s extinct: as of 2009 there are no known hantaviruses in the UK. The theory that the English Sweate was caused by one stems instead from the similarity between John Caius’ description of it and another new “mystery disease”, the outbreak of Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome in the Four Corners region of the United States in 1993.

<< Previous Entry: The Empire of the Calabash

HIN1, you have a chance.

Argh. I debated writing this post. It seems too personal to write but, thats what I do, I write. I’m the Joan of Arc of writers and I think to become a better writer, you need to exploit yourself.

So, I’m not going to explain it in detail, but I will let it out there.

Since last spring, I found a new doctor. She is wonderful. My first meeting with her, she signed me up for tons of blood tests. I went.

I get a phone call. My iron is low. Nothing major, just a quick prescription for iron pills, and I’m on my way. She asks for continued blood tests (weekly) so she can check it. I faithfully go.

She writes me a quick letter within two weeks- stop taking the iron pills, your back to normal.

I stop, I continue to go see her and other professionals who I’ve met along the way.  I go in for a physical and she reviews all my blood work. She says I have blood in my urine and to go get that checked out. While shes at it, it couldn’t hurt to re-check my iron, right? Sure. I go.

Then, I start feeling really sick and lethargic. I’m sleeping 24/7. Here is an example of how bad my sleeping became.

My sister calls me, I ignore the call. She calls my moms (where I’m staying), I ignore the call. She calls both lines again. I ignore. Finally, she leaves a voice message of her crying. I ignore it. She calls my cell again. I’m pissed and wide awake. I answer, snap at her that I’m trying to fucking sleep. She explains Ty. might have swine flu and the school called. I say I can’t go, I’m sleeping.

I know. Awful Auntie. I wasn’t even awake for the call. Had I been actually functioning, I would have been there instantly. Anyone who knows me knows how much that little boy means to me.

So- I finally go to the Dr. They do a throat swab and send me on my way, assuming its mono and judging from the fever I had mid-october, the worst has occurred and I just need to rest to get over it.

They call and confirm the mono. I continue sleeping ridiculous amounts. They warn me of side pains and to go straight to emergency if it occurs. This would be the mono-spleen thing.

I get sidepains. I google it- sidepains from spleen issues are on your left side. Mine are on my right. I go to the Dr yesterday.

As I’m waiting for my Dr.- the nurse wanders in, “Oh, the results are in, the Dr. will explain them during your visit to help you save time.” Doctor comes in. It never was mono. My levels of iron are drastically low. Normal is a 12- I’m at a two. Apparently, my body is shutting down to fight it. My body is basically starved for oxygen and my immune levels are out for the count.

He explains that this is so severe, if it becomes any worse, I’m hospitalized. The yellow skin? Anemia. Has my body been bleeding? Yes, I’ve had my share of bleeding. Apparently, someone my size, it’s a dangerous level to lose.

I’m back on the iron pills. They have me on an extremely high dosage. I’m on vitamin D + B12 (I was low on those too) as well as my asthma inhalers. I’m still on my “Audge is happy” pills. I’m so tired of pills. I’m so tired of being tired. I’m freezing cold all the time, I hate it.

F. Spanky laughed when he saw my iron pill container: WARNING: MAY CAUSE URINE AND FECE DISCOLORATION. My last text message to him was, “Thanks F. Spanky” His reply? > “No problem Audrey the colored feces girl.” (and yes, I did reply with, “MY SHIT IS GREEN LIKE A GOBLIN!”)

 My mom suggested birth control again?

Fuck that. I’d rather stay single and lonely, and have  no love!

 I feel like a fricken pez dispenser.

Gara LaMarche--Videos

Deepak Bhargava Introduces USAction Awardee Gara LaMarche

Gara LaMarche Accepts Progressive Leadership Award

Atlantic’s Commitment to Social Justice

Gara LaMarche (13 May 2009)

Gara LaMarche Speech

LaMarche Speech Part2

Gara LaMarche on The New Press

Gara LaMarche speaks about the Alliance for Justice

ServiceNation: The Wisdom of Experience

http://fora.tv/2008/09/12/ServiceNation_The_Wisdom_of_Experience

 

 

Background Articles and Videos Visitor logs: Knock, knock, knockin’ on Barry’s door By Michelle Malkin 

“…*PHILIP GARA LAMARCHE. Another far Leftist philanthropist with repeat access to the White House, he’s listed nine times (two under “Gara LaMarche” and seven under “Philip G LaMarche.” LaMarche is President and CEO of The Atlantic Philanthropies. As I reported in June, LaMarche is a George Soros acolyte whose charity pitched in $10 million to help fund the astroturf Health Care Action Now group. LaMarche met with Valerie Jarrett for hours-long meetings on two disclosed occasions. Last year, LaMarche’s group donated $18 million to a Chicago charity headed by Jarrett. …”

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/11/02/visitor-logs-knock-knock-knockin-on-barrys-door/

Biography of Philop Gara LaMarche

“…Gara LaMarche is President and CEO of The Atlantic Philanthropies. He joined Atlantic in April 2007 to lead the organization through its final chapter as the foundation disburses its remaining $4 billion endowment and completes active grantmaking by 2016. Before joining Atlantic, LaMarche served as Vice President and Director of U.S. Programs for the Open Society Institute (OSI), a foundation established by philanthropist George Soros. LaMarche joined OSI in 1996 to launch its U.S. Programs, which focuses on challenges to social justice and democracy. LaMarche previously served as Associate Director of Human Rights Watch and Director of its Free Expression Project from 1990 to 1996. He was Director of the Freedom-to-Write Program of the PENAmericanCenter from 1988 to 1990, when PEN played a leading role in campaigns to lift Iran’s fatwa against Salman Rushdie and challenged restrictions on arts funding in the United States. He served in a variety of positions with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), with which he first became associated at age 18 as a member of its national Academic Freedom Committee. He was the Associate Director of the ACLU’s New York branch from 1979 to 1984 and the Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas from 1984 to 1988. At the Texas ACLU, he led campaigns to provide adequate representation for death row inmates and oppose discriminatory treatment of persons with AIDS in the early days of the epidemic. LaMarche is the author of numerous articles on human rights and social justice issues. He teaches a course in philanthropy and public policy at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service, and was an adjunct professor at New School University and The John Jay College of Criminal Justice. LaMarche serves on the boards of PEN AmericanCenter and The White House Project, as a member of the selection committee for the Sundance Documentary Fund, and on the Leadership Council of Hispanics in Philanthropy. A Westerly, R.I. native, LaMarche graduated from Columbia College in New York. …”

http://fora.tv/speaker/5922/Gara-LaMarche

Affordable Health Care for All Is Within Grasp Now – If We All Rise to the Moment

“…But with the spotlight on the public option, which is a key element of reform but far from the only one, many have lost sight of the need to make sure insurance for those who don’t have it is truly affordable, and that the benefits offered are adequate. If all Americans will now be required to have health insurance, as most states require car insurance, the price must be well within reach, with strong subsidies for the less well-off, whose household income is at least four times the federal poverty level. In addition, these families must begin to see benefits soon, as economic hard times are causing pain now, not in the distant future.

In the weeks ahead, all of us who support quality, affordable health care for everyone need to make our voices heard in the political process – not by the kind of shouting or disruption which captured attention last month, but by passion channeled into arguments that strengthen reform as much as possible and give political leaders the strength they need to stand up to powerful interests. Go to HCAN’s website, where you’ll find up-to-the-minute information about where the process stands, who needs to hear from you, and what critical decisions about affordability, access and competition require more advocacy.

The next time I write about health care, I hope it is accompanied by a photograph of the President signing a bill that will take its place with other landmark social welfare advances like Social Security and Medicare. Working together and staying the course in the coming weeks, we can make that wish come true.”

http://atlanticphilanthropies.org/about/atlantic_currents

Gara LaMarche The Crisis of Democracy in America Gara LaMarche

“…Progressive institutions and alternative policies and messages need to be built and nurtured. That must and will be done, with our involvement. But we must also build and nurture institutions that are not progressive or conservative, but independent—capable of resisting extremism and counteracting the polarization that is deepening in American society.

In many ways, the Open Society Institute and its grantees, and many of our donor colleagues, are dealing with the range of open society threats I discuss above. In some areas we need to step up this work; in others we need to find or help create new initiatives and institutions; in all we need to recognise the integrated nature of the threats and integrate our own responses accordingly.

Here are seven steps we need to take:

• We need to protect the independence of the judiciary as urgently as ever. The key U.S. advocacy groups are in the vanguard of resistance, but at least at the federal level, the situation has become steadily worse. Preserving the filibuster as an option to block the worst judicial nominees is only a first step. We need a longer campaign to monitor judicial appointments, particularly with the balance of the Supreme Court at stake. Such a campaign must involve the civil liberties and pro-choice groups already in the foreground, and also build the broader civil-rights and environmental communities. It must include groups whose social and economic justice agenda is threatened by judges determined to reverse hard-won civil rights and the very underpinnings of social welfare and regulation in the public interest.
• We need a much more intensive campaign—of documentation, media public education and litigation—to challenge the legitimization of torture, which is both a moral abomination on its own terms and deeply corrosive to the culture of law.
• We need to strengthen institutions that monitor the fairness of the media and call them to account for violations of journalistic ethics and standards. We need to strengthen the emerging grassroots movement for media reform: protecting the independence of public broadcasting, monitoring the FCC on ownership rules and other regulatory issues, and supporting legal challenges.
• We need to call attention to the politicization of science, and assist scientists to organize and speak out against the corruption and manipulation of scientific findings.
• We need to recognize that academic freedom and university independence are under increasing attack, and respond by strengthening them.
• We need to organize with colleagues in the field of philanthropy who want to use the special status of our institutions to protect the interests we represent, and to advance broader social-justice issues.
• We need to do more to encourage dialogue and new ideas about the best ways to foster open society. I hope that the Open Society Institute will play a key role in this thinking and development.

This is only the beginning. There is a long way to go. The debate starts here.”

http://www.soros.org/resources/articles_publications/articles/crisis_20050701

“…At The Atlantic Philanthropies we believe that all people should be treated with dignity, respect and fairness. This belief is at the heart of our vision for social justice in the world and especially in the countries in which we are active. We pay particular attention to people and groups who are systematically disadvantaged by social and economic barriers that result in injustice and inequity. We believe that these barriers can be removed by empowering people to engage in advocacy to create a more equitable and just world.

No significant social change has ever taken place without the energy and perseverance of movements and advocates. That is why we support efforts that are led by the people who need change the most. The organisations we support do this hard work day in and day out, and we are privileged to join forces with them in advancing change and promoting social justice.

In keeping with the “Giving While Living” philosophy of our founder, Charles “Chuck” Feeney, we are fully committed to spending our entire endowment and closing the doors of our foundation by 2020. He believes that major problems can be solved sooner and more easily and be prevented from worsening if invested in now. Like our founder, we believe that we must address the urgent social inequities and injustices of our time without delay. …”

Gara LaMarche
President and CEO
The Atlantic Philanthropies

http://atlanticphilanthropies.org/about/ceo_message

The Atlantic Philanthropies

“…At The Atlantic Philanthropies, we are dedicated to bringing about lasting changes in the lives of people who are disadvantaged by their economic situation, race, nationality, gender, age, disabilities, immigration status, sexual orientation, political affiliation or religion.

We make grants through our Ageing, Children & Youth, Population Health and Reconciliation & Human Rights programmes. We are active in Australia, Bermuda, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United States and Viet Nam.

We support lasting change by:

• Addressing the root causes of social injustice
• Focusing on advocacy for change rather than filling gaps in services
• Funding efforts to challenge policies and institutions that systematically exclude or disadvantage people
• Building on the strengths of individuals, organisations, communities and movements to advocate on their own behalf and on behalf of others
• Supporting institutions and investing in leaders who can work for progressive change over decades
• Working in partnership with government, whenever it can advance our goals and those of the organisations we support. …”

http://atlanticphilanthropies.org/about

Gara LaMarche

http://www.muckety.com/Gara-LaMarche/22485.muckety

Keeping Obama’s Campaign “Army” Mobilized as a Force for Change in Peacetime

“…Obama and all those who want to seize the moment for progressive change need these talented and passionate organizers who helped deliver the presidency to stay in the field and work with state and local organizations to deliver the change that Obama promised and they labored for. They would offer a huge boost to local coalitions and organizations, many of which are far less powerful and sophisticated than the Obama campaign.

These organizers are essential to sustaining the passion and engagement of millions of donors and online activists, who can take action in support of the agenda they share with Obama.

Progressives understand that this army needs to be a force for keeping the new administration true to its promises – supporting Obama when it agrees with him, pushing him when he needs to be bolder, and opposing him when they disagree. They did that this summer when thousands of Obama supporters used the campaign Web site to convey their dismay with his support for a Congressional compromise on government surveillance of U.S. citizens under the Foreign Intelligence Services Act. In the tough challenges ahead, this peacetime army can press Obama to stay true to his promises and his supporters.”

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gara-lamarche/keeping-obamas-campaign-a_b_142027.html?show_comment_id=17822212

Organizations Funded Directly by George Soros and his Open Society InstituteBy Discover The Networks
Last Updated February 2009

Organizations that, in recent years, have received direct funding and assistance from George Soros and his Open Society Institute (OSI) include the following. (Comprehensive profiles of each are available in the “Groups” section of DiscoverTheNetworks.org): …”

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7476

 About The New Press

“…Established in 1990 as a major alternative to the large, commercial publishers, The New Press is a not-for-profit publishing house operated editorially in the public interest. It is committed to publishing in innovative ways works of educational, cultural, and community value that, despite their intellectual merits, may be deemed insufficiently profitable by commercial publishers. Like the Public Broadcasting System and National Public Radio as they were originally conceived, The New Press aims to provide ideas and viewpoints under-represented in the mass media.

Since publishing its first book in 1992, The New Press has been widely hailed as a leading trade publisher. Booksellers, educators, critics and readers have extensively praised the New Press’s books, and they have been the recipients of numerous awards. The Press itself has been featured in publications from the New York Times, The Nation, Education Week and the Christian Science Monitor to The Guardian (UK), Toronto Globe and Mail (Canada), Le Monde (France), and many other international media.

Underlying The Press’s editorial program are three aims: to broaden the audience for serious intellectual work, especially by reaching out to audiences intellectually red-lined by commercial publishers; to bring out the work of traditionally underrepresented voices; and to address the problems of a society in transition, highlighting attempts at reform and innovation in a wide range of fields. …”

http://www.thenewpress.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=6

“…Alliance For Justice

• Systematically opposes Republican judicial nominees
• Anti-Patriot Act

Founded in 1979 by Nan Aron, Alliance For Justice (AFJ) describes itself as “a national association of environmental, civil rights, mental health, women’s, children’s and consumer advocacy organizations.” Among AFJ’s 74 member groups are the Children’s Defense Fund; the Center for Reproductive Rights; the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund; the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund; the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund; the National Abortion Federation; the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL); the National Immigration Forum; the National Council for Research on Women; the National Lawyers Guild; the National Immigration Law Center; the National Organization for Women Legal Defense and Education Fund; the Natural Resources Defense Council; the National Women’s Law Center; Physicians for Human Rights; the Planned Parenthood Federation of America; the Sierra Club Foundation; the Tides Center; and the Wilderness Society.

AFJ’s major programs include:

Judicial Selection Project: “monitors and investigates judicial nominations at all levels of the federal branch, and encourages public participation in the confirmation process”

Independent Judiciary Program: “raise[s] public awareness about the significant impact the federal judiciary has on the country.”

Nonprofit Advocacy Project: “assists nonprofit organizations … through technical assistance, workshops, and a wealth of tools and information”

Foundation Advocacy Initiative: This project strives ”to increase foundation support to organizations that seek to influence policy and public opinion.”

Student Action Campaign: When the new Supreme Court session opens each October, this program “unites student activists on college, university, and law school campuses nationwide to fight for social justice.”

Access to Justice Program: Founded on the premise that the American criminal-justice system is steeped in racism, this program “supports a progressive agenda to protect and improve” that system. 

Operating on a yearly budget of $4.5 million, AFJ has built its reputation most notably on its activism vis a vis the appointment of federal judges. The organization consistently paints Republican nominees as “extremists” whose views range far outside the boundaries of mainstream public opinion. …”

“…AFJ receives financial support from George Soros’s Open Society Institute, the Tides Foundation, the Streisand Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Beldon Fund, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, the JEHT Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Public Welfare Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Scherman Foundation, the Schumann Center for Media and Democracy, the Surdna Foundation, and the Turner Foundation. …”

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6447

Shot Fired Into Home of Lou Dobbs of CNN!

Immigration Gumballs

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